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KITAMAAT VILLAGE — A lengthy federal review into Enbridge's proposed $5.5-billion Northern Gateway pipeline began Tuesday with the Haisla warning a three-member panel that an oil spill would devastate their way of life.

The community of about 700, with its well-kept houses and a small marina of ocean-going boats, is located on Douglas Channel, sheltered by rocky cliffs and snowy, treed slopes of the Coastal Mountains.

An oil spill would devastate the wealth of food they rely on from the ocean, including salmon, halibut, cod, clams, crabs and shrimp, said the Haisla.

Chiefs told the panel the community is facing a "double-barrelled" threat from an oil spill on the ocean and a spill on the Kitimat River, which empties into the Douglas Channel just north of their village.

"It just terrifies me to know we are facing more destruction," said hereditary Chief Kenneth Hall, one of six chiefs and elders who spoke before the panel slated to run until the spring of 2013.

Chiefs said the marine and river habitat had already been compromised by existing industrial development, including pollution from Rio Tinto Alcan's aluminum smelter.

Hereditary Chief Sam Robinson, 78, said they had lived in their village for as much as 2,000 years, pointing to rocks with special meanings, rock carvings and rock paintings that demonstrated their history in the rugged coastal area.

One of those rocks, which looked like a person, was used to teach young people to not run away when threatened. If you ran away, you would turn into a rock, Robinson told the panel.

He said the Haisla — who had been taken advantage of when they were pushed onto reserves — will not run away. "We will not be walked over again," said Robinson, speaking to the panel but also to an audience of about 300 packed into the gym of the Haisla Recreation Centre.

Before the panel session started, the Haisla welcomed the joint panel of the National Energy Board and the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency with traditional drumming and songs.

The dancers and drummers were dressed in rich traditional regalia of red-and-black button blankets, and some wore carved wooden head dresses representing the clans of eagle, beaver and killer whale.

In an interview, Robinson said some in the community wanted a song of protest, but they instead chose a song of welcome.

But Robinson warned that even though the Haisla are a welcoming and peaceful people, they are willing to fight Northern Gateway, including using court action.

The panel is determining whether the 1,172-kilometre twin pipeline between the Alberta oilsands and Kitimat can be built and operated safely, and if the project is in the public interest. The panel's scrutiny includes tanker traffic. The westbound pipeline would carry bitumen to ocean tankers to carry the oil product to Asian markets; the eastbound pipeline would carry natural gas condensate.

Several months of community hearings will be heard in northern B.C. and Alberta, before technical hearings begin in the fall.

A panel decision is expected at the end of 2013, after which the federal government will have a final say on the project.

"We are here to listen," said Sheila Leggett, chair of the federal panel.

Enbridge executives, including John Carruthers, president of the Northern Gateway project, attended the opening panel session.

Enbridge spokesman Paul Stanway said they were in listening mode until they have an opportunity to explain their project during the technical hearings in the fall.

The Calgary-based company has said they believe the project can be built and operated safely, and that spill risks, which are small, can be managed.

"There's a lot of British Columbians that have not made up their minds about the project," said Stanway. "This is an opportunity to put information before them."

Other first nation representatives came to the opening panel session to support the Haisla in their opposition to Northern Gateway.

Harvey Humchitt, a hereditary chief of the Heiltsuk First Nation, said he was also there to prepare for a similar community panel session in Bella Bella in early February.

He said he wasn't sure if the panel would listen to first nations. "I guess we'll have to wait and see," he said.

Coastal First Nations executive director Art Sterritt said he is concerned the federal government is interfering with the Northern Gateway review.

He was referring to Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver's criticism that environmental groups had hijacked the review process.

"They are trying to bully B.C. [residents] and trying to bully this panel," said Sterritt.

Kitimat resident Mike Bagg also attended the opening session.

A worker at Rio Tinto Alcan's aluminum smelter, he opposes the project.

"Have people not seen what happened in the Gulf of Mexico or the Kalamazoo River?" he asked, referring to the 2010 oil spills.

ghoekstra@vancouversun.com

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First Nation says Enbridge pipeline spill would devastate its way of life

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